Maranello unveiled one of its most unique creations in recent times, the 2027 Ferrari 12Cylinder Manual. as its name says Suggestively, the flagship V12 model now gets a six-speed gated shifter, a clutch pedal – and, after interacting with the hardware during its reveal – all the physical and emotional rewards of a tried-and-true manual..
The reality is that this is neither a newly developed transmission nor a tried-and-true manual designed by Ferrari. At its core, the 12Cilindri manual employs the eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission from the SF90 Stradale, but it has been fitted with a new brain or architecture to change how it communicates with the driver. Furthermore, Ferrari also chopped off the top two gears to make it a true six-speed, with one of its engineers explaining to me that six gears were enough to provide the desired character. The end result is a specialized transmission tailored to this unique application.
On to the details: Ferrari calls this manual by the wire, and although the first words are in Italian, I don’t think I need to translate what it means, right? Like brake- and steer-by-wire, this new transmission system uses electronics to convert driver inputs from the shifter and clutch into signals to the transmission and ultimately the engine. There is no mechanical connection between the three, but there is a very tactile connection between the car and the driver. In short, manual The By Wire is designed to bring the feeling of manual driving back to a V12 Ferrari, while still offering the best of both worlds. how come? You can also drive the car in fully automatic mode.
how it works
There are three major components: the transmission, shifter, and clutch. Also, there are no pedals behind the wheel, as that would be “false” for the concept and just do too much. The shift lever, gated base, and all of its parts and linkages that relay electronic signals are machined in the same way as they are for non-current models with a manual. In other words, everything looks and feels like the real deal.
Ferrari designed the manual-by-wire to be as realistic as possible, starting with the clutch feel. Getting pedal pressure right, pedal travel nuances and clutch engagement were top priorities. Similarly, an engineer explained that shifter feel and balance were critical to delivering the right feel, so he looked at one of the greatest cars of all time, the 599 GTB, and recreated a similar clutch feel, shifter throw travel, feel, and the play of the metal shifter rod against the gates.
According to Ferrari, driving the 12cd manual is just like driving any other manual, and in fact, engineers have put a number of features into the new transmission to ensure that the driver feels like they are driving a manual, not a manual automatic (?). For starters, you can stop the car altogether. Like mechanical manuals, if you release the clutch too quickly or you don’t have a good feel for the pickup point of the pedal, the car will shake and the engine will stall. Additionally, the system will allow you to do stupidly high revs, so if you insist on forced shifts despite it not being optimal for performance, you will be able to do so. But while the driver can spin the V12 to 9,500 rpm, the computer will prevent any changes that could result in catastrophic failure, such as a shift from sixth to first or any other trick.
Can you dump the clutch and do a burnout? Yes. In the correct driving mode, where the traction control system would allow wheelspin, Burnouts à la Manuel Are possible. Similarly, changing the heel and toe. Ferrari claims no manual will ever come out of Maranello without giving the driver the option to heel-toe – by wire or otherwise. However, being successful in this depends on the skill of the driver.
The driver is able to instantly switch between manual and automatic, but the manual-by-wire system ultimately decides how this happens. For example, if you are driving at 90 mph on the highway in automatic mode and want to engage manual mode by depressing the clutch and shifting into second gear, the system will not allow the shift lever to slide into that gear because the revs will not match. It’s exactly like forcing shifts with the paddles in current cars – at some point, the computer won’t allow it. When in manual mode, the engraved shift pattern on the top of the shifter illuminates orange, like the gauge light, to remind the driver to shift himself.
While normally I write this off in marketing language, I truly believe this transmission offers the best of both worlds, and it was during a real-world drive in the Ferrari that I had a major experience. aha Moment about it. When driving a 296 Speciale Aperta for several hours in 100-degree heat in the hills around Maranello, I opted for the fully automatic mode to revert to factory mode, mostly because of stop-and-go traffic and other annoying situations. After a lot of spirited driving on beautifully winding roads, where my own gear changes actually rewarded beautiful performance, I just wanted to turn on the AC, tilt the seat back an inch and let the car shift on its own into a more relaxed driving mode. I had really enjoyed a engaging experience with Paddle, so I was willing to sit back and let the computer do its thing.
At the end of the day, same goes for the 12cylinder manual. You get the precision and intensity of a manual when you want it, and the comfort and ease of an automatic when you don’t want it. Plus, the 6.5-liter naturally aspirated V12 producing 819 horsepower isn’t too shabby.
Only 1,499 units of the 12cylinder manual will be built, all coupe models (no Spyder), and they’ll all be tailor-made creations, meaning owners will have to go through Maranello’s custom program should they want one of these – if there are any build slots left. Prices in Italy will start from €590,000.
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